Summer Romance
What ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s ‘Sabrina’ Connection Means for Belly’s Endgame
The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Season 3 poster is giving serious Sabrina vibes as Belly’s (Lola Tung) love triangle with Fisher brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) mirrors that of Audrey Hepburn‘s titular from the 1954 film alongside Larrabee brothers Linus (Humphrey Bogart) and David (William Holden).
While the homage may seem like a fun nod to Belly’s love of old films, as well as the title she saw at the drive-in during her Season 1 date with Cameron (David Iacono), there’s more to this parallel than meets the eye. For those less familiar with Sabrina, the film follows Hepburn’s character, a young woman who has always pined after David, the son of her father’s employer.
A playboy who has only ever seen Sabrina as a child, David doesn’t pay much attention to her. Saddened by the reality that he doesn’t see her romantically, Sabrina attempts to commit suicide but is saved by David’s older brother, Linus. After getting a fresh start by attending school in Paris, Sabrina returns to New York only to catch the eye of David, who doesn’t immediately recognize her.
Everett Collection
Betrothed for the purpose of bolstering the Larrabee family business, David is meant to wed another, and Linus interceded by briefly incapacitating David with the plan to send Sabrina back to France. The catch? He made Sabrina believe he’d join her, knowing he’d remain behind in New York to oversee that David went through with his marriage.
But Linus realized he was wrong and offered to break off his brother’s engagement for David to go after Sabrina. Ultimately, David recognized that Linus was in love with Sabrina and made him run after her himself. Sabrina and Linus were the endgame of that film.
So, what does this have to do with The Summer I Turned Pretty? In this scenario, as seen in the two images above, Conrad is Linus, Belly is Sabrina, and Jeremiah is David. As the oldest brother, Conrad constantly acts in the best interest of his family over himself, which has led to major roadblocks in communicating his feelings effectively to Belly. And while Belly had always pined after Conrad, she was won over by Jeremiah, who was a known playboy in Season 1.
In Jenny Han‘s third book from The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, upon which the show is based, Conrad continues to love Belly from afar as her romance with Jeremiah plays out, but ultimately that relationship is broken up, and after traveling abroad to Europe, Belly reconnects with Conrad, reigniting their romance.
Whether that will be the case in this season of the show will remain to be seen, but if the Sabrina parallels being made in the poster and series are to be taken as hints for where Season 3 is heading, this may very well confirm Belly’s endgame with Conrad. What do you think will happen? Let us know in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more on The Summer I Turned Pretty as Season 3’s premiere approaches.
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Season 3 Premiere, Wednesday, July 16, Prime Video
